Content marketing is the backbone of many successful SEO strategies, but getting started can feel quite daunting. However, with the right assets, the right promotion, and the right strategy, you can make a big difference to the quality and quantity of your backlinks.
So, whether you’re dipping your toe into content marketing for the first time, or looking for something more exciting than guest posts, these five tricks will definitely help in boosting your backlinks.
Recommended reading: What Are Backlinks: A Comprehensive Guide
1. Create data resource content
.Backlinks are about getting people to visit your website. One way of increasing your visitors is to create data-driven content and become a trustworthy resource. In order for this to lead to backlinks, you will need to create stellar content for a topic that might result in increased traffic.
Ahrefs is a keyword research tool that allows you to analyze what topics are performing well from an SEO perspective. Use this to establish the ideal subject matter for your data-driven content. Once you’ve done this, you’ll need to find a fresh angle that adds value to the topic. Just rehashing old ground won’t help you rank — it’s important to offer some data-driven insights in the form of stats and facts.
Government statistics are a great free resource to turn to find the data you need to create your own unique content. Search data.gov for the region you’re focusing on, for example:
- Data.gov: For the U.S.
- Data.gov.uk: For the UK
- Data.gov.in: For India
Once you have your data you need, then you’ll need to pick through it to find something original to say. Data-driven content is a strategic asset that can boost your backlinks.
Why so? Simply because sites will then reference your data in order to add credibility to their own content.
Check out- Content Marketing Agency
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2. Spend time on your graphics.
While your content strategy will probably include a lot of great copy, it’s important to spend time on graphics as well.
These easily digestible pieces of content tend to earn high quality – and a high quantity – of backlinks. Content pieces that include infographics are usually liked and shared on social media three times more than other types of content.
In fact, it’s proven that readers pay close attention to images that carry information – and when the images are relevant, readers spend more time looking at them than text.
Infographics can also help boost your backlinks by helping you to connect with the sites you are seeking backlinks from:
Credit: Quicksprout
Successful infographics have the following three factors in common:
- Well-researched statistics that are interesting, relevant, and referenced
- An amazing design that’s appealing, professional, and easy to read
- Extensive promotion and outreach across a range of social media platforms
Here are a few tips you can follow to ensure your infographics give you the backlink boost you’re looking for:
- Make your infographic shareable by adding an embed code
- Send it to an infographic submission site – you can find examples here
- Post it on a news aggregation site, or Q&A site – such as Quora.
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3. Collaborate with others.
Backlinks offer validation by demonstrating to Google that your content is considered to be valuable. Collaborating with others is a great way to boost your backlinks because it offers natural ways to co-market, link back to each other, and support each other’s content efforts.
Collaborating to create content can take many forms. Guest posting on another blog is a great way to reach a new audience. Not only does it help you expand your audience, but it’s also a surefire way to boost your backlinks. Plus, as there are two of you promoting and creating the content, you get double the exposure for the same amount of work as usual. Choosing a complimentary blogger or company to work with is where your networking skills come in.
If you already guest post, why not try creating case studies? Put together an insightful report that’s filled with data can help you reach new audiences and get new backlinks. The customer you worked with in the case study is highly likely to share the piece. Plus, you might even get it featured in industry publications, depending on the sector you work in. In some niches like web design, there are some awesome backlinks to be had this way.
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4. Put the focus on quality and your brand niche.
Don’t make the mistake of prioritizing quantity over quality. Posts need to be well-written, engaging, and entertaining if people are going to read them – and that’s hard to achieve if you’re trying to post a large number every week.
Alongside quality, you readers are also looking for content that covers specific topics. Niche-specific content is an essential part of a successful social media strategy and your brand’s content marketing approach is no different. So, choose to write fewer posts, and instead concentrate on making them excellent, high-value pieces that cover your brand’s specialist areas. If you can attract and keep your reader’s attention, you’re more likely to earn better backlinks.
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5. Use experts – or position yourself as one.
Using expert advice is a great way to boost your backlinks. Create an “expert roundup” and ask 10, 20, or even 50 experts for their thoughts. This type of content appeals to people’s egos: you’re highly likely to share or repost a piece of content that features you as an expert. Before writing a piece like this, make sure you do research. Once you’ve got your list of experts, see which ones actively share and link to articles that they feature in. Then make sure your experts really are experts: be critical and use people who are well regarded in the field.
When it comes to content marketing, it’s a great idea to position yourself as an expert. Create long-form educational guides, reports, and whitepapers to establish your credentials and reputation. These long-form pieces of content usually add a great deal of value to a topic, and as a result, are shared often. Becoming an expert in your field isn’t easy and requires a great deal of time and effort. But once you get there, you’ll find yourself swamped with websites and publications wanting your advice and asking you to contribute blogs.
These five tricks will take you from zero to hero when it comes to content marketing. They don’t need to be done in a hurry either, so you can pick and choose what you start with depending on your availability and resource. Put in the research first, dedicate time to creating quality content, and collaborate with complementary brands – and you’ll soon see your backlinks grow.
We’d love to hear the strategies that you’ve implemented for building your backlinks! Do add those in the comments below, or reach out to us at contact@contentninja.in if you need any help.
